Draconic Team
by Aquillis
Summary: Insomniac AU, containing all the young dragons from later games and actual humans. Every Dragon within the Realms has a human partner-one who would not only make both of their abilities grow, but can easily change the outlook of both parties. Spyro, for the longest time since being hatched, had never found his particular partner...Until Rex ended up killing him.
1. A Death In Time

Not so good of a start

With every story, a tale would begin on something lush and vibrant—showcasing the land in a very peaceful state. This particular story however, does not.

This story begins, oddly, with a death. Two, to be exact.

In the fields of the Artisans Homeworld, a scuffle was going on between a blue-cloaked thief and a giant purple dragon. Though, the 'giant' part may have been an over-exaggeration. Both the thief and the dragon were near the same height—which was small, though they had some excuse of them being young.

"Get back here!" the purple dragon yelled at the blue-wearing egg thief. "That egg doesn't belong to you!"

The purple dragon grabbed the thief's cloak top hat, showcasing a young child with golden locks and pale skin. The thief's head turned around, smirking at the dragon with his red eyes.

"Why should I?" The thief asked, attempting to throw his hand out—holding a beautiful oak staff that the dragon didn't notice earlier—and spouting purple fire to the dragon. However, he didn't manage to see the purple dragon blast it's own burst of purple fire back at the thief. The attack hit the back of the thief, allowing the dragon to land on top of him instantly.

"Alright _Rex_ ," the dragon stated, the former wisps of fire disappearing when his claws touched the scorched fabric. "Give me the egg, and you won't get hurt."

"Seriously? Sticking my name like a slur, Spyro?" Rex asked, his hair matted and slightly scorched. "Well," he quickly teleported out of Spyro's reach, not taking the egg with him. "I'd prefer to leave that to your precious Dragon Elders—" his magic shot out toward the egg to teleport it away just as Spyro jumped and brought out his front claws.

The purple sphere of magic went through the egg, and u-turned toward Spyro just as Rex pulled a small sword out and stuck it out towards Spyro's chest. The teleportation magic hit Spyro just as his claws pierced Rex's chest, causing the both of them to be teleported back to the egg's location. Both attacks struck the hearts of both dragon and human, causing a quick and sudden death of two beings. Now, the death of these two isn't the end of this story. Without the attempt of magic teleportation by Rex, the two really would have stayed dead. As magic is part of a living entity, the magic changed instantly around the two, keeping them within a stasis of half-alive-half-dead until the other dragons and humans found them.

* * *

It took a while for Rex to wake up from slumber, having a strange dream where he and that miserable _dwarf dragon_ killed one-another just for a stupid dragon egg. _Note to self: don't go after dragon eggs until next week_. The thought to himself, half groggy from the sleep he just had. Once Rex decided to wake up, he felt a harsh soreness around his chest. _Why am I feeling like this?_ He thought before opening his eyes, and found himself in the general parlour of the Artisans' Homeworld. "Wait…" he quickly said when his mind started working again.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Prince of the Egg Stealing Thieves." a giant red-purple dragon growled, coming into Rex's vision suddenly. The human screamed as soon as the dragon came into his view.

"D-Delbin! Please stop scaring the kid!" a meek voice came from behind the dragon, showcasing a lanky man with the dragon's colours—right down to the clothing matching the dragon's scales. Rex snorted at the meekly human.

"Nice to know that Mickey's _still_ the lanky meek boy behind the growling idiot." he muttered, getting a glare from the mentioned blue-eyed weakling.

"Nice to know that the _previously dead_ thief _still_ has a terrible sense of humour." Delbin said.

This shocked said thief in the inside. The outside part of Rex made sure to keep a smirk on his face, though both Delbin and Mickey knew it was too forced to work. "Seriously? You think you can scare me with that preposterous idea?" He asked the two, reminding himself that he could get out of this situation soon enough.

"It's nice to see you awake." a elderly, more humble voice broke the staring contest between Rex and Delbin, causing the two to look at an elderly grey dragon right next to Mickey. He was lying down right next to Spyro, who now had a collar attached to his neck—the collar was silver with red gems, making Rex wonder when the dragon had decided to put _that_ on.

"Is that purple _mutt_ getting into his scene phase? Because I think he should find a better collar than _that_ tacky thing around his neck." Rex stated, making the mentioned dragon sit up in anger before the elderly grey dragon stopped him.

"W-Well, I wouldn't speak when you have something similar around—" Mickey was stopped by a glare of both Delbin and the elder dragon, though it was too late. Rex was looking for a similar collar until he noticed his right wrist. A similar-looking bracelet was on his entire wrist, feeling like it wasn't actually on his body.

"What _is_ this?" the thief asked, looking toward both the elder dragon and Spyro for answers.

In that specific moment, Spyro decided to speak. "Do you remember how that dream went out?" he asked, making the rest of the dragons and humans (that Rex noticed hadn't came in and attacked him, even though he knew most of them wanted him dead) start muttering to one another-causing a low murmur to occur in Rex's ears.

"How would you know about that—"

"That dream _happened_ , Rex. All of it." the purple dragon said, making Rex even more shocked. But the dragon wasn't done. "The chase, the brief fight, our _deaths_. It happened, and your magic saved the both of us from getting killed—"

"No. I don't believe this." Rex stated, though the thought came more prominent when he had a bit of trouble getting up. "There has to be another explanation for it. My magic isn't strong enough to revive us—"

"And yet, it managed to preserve the both of you in a near-death state." the elder said casually, making Rex more freaked out than before.

"...I still don't think that is true." the thief insisted quietly, thinking over the implication of it. After all: his magic was meant to teleport the egg _back_ to him. Rex didn't see it fizzle out, but he was entirely focused on the dragon that rammed into him to keep him from moving—

"The magic somehow reversed _through_ the egg." The grey elder said, holding the very egg that Rex tried to steal. "I can still feel the magic within the egg. Or at least, what little residue that was made when the magic went toward Spyro." murmurs went throughout the Artisans' crowd, the other dragons wondering what he was talking about. Rex caught a few words within the crowd of spectators.

"Wait, are you saying—"

"The old coot's gone mad if he thinks..."

"There's no way that the kid's…"

"He's too scrawny to carry that much power!"

"But a dragon's magic becomes more powerful with a human…"

"I don't believe that this—this _thief_ is the child that went missing last Year of the Dragon!"

"Astor, you can't be saying—" Deblin and Mickey started, but the elder dragon silenced the crowd with a wave of his paw. When the entire crowd quieted down, Astor started to speak once again.

"The dragon and human alliance was made to make sure both groups are living in harmony," he stated, making the crowd (along with Spyro and Rex, the latter of whom had never even _heard_ of Astor's speeches before) sigh in tiredness and frustration of the sudden lecture. "The magical increase between both dragons and humans was found to be a common power of the humans. This increase helps dragons to access magic they never thought they could do before—"

"ALRIGHT! WE GET IT!" the other dragons and humans yelled, causing Astor's ear-aid to screw up at the noise. "JUST GET TO THE **POINT** ALREADY!"

Once Astor fixed up his ear-aid again (making Rex wonder where the heck he places it—as dragons don't necessarily have visible ears), the dragon elder attempted to explain his viewpoint.

"I'm sure most of you know what's exactly in front of us." he started after scratching his chin a bit. "Rex may be the adoptive son of the King of Thieves—the man only known as Gyre—but he may also be the missing son of Queen Helena." the gasps throughout the crowd, turning toward the young but beautiful red dragon outside the crowd. Her horn colour was almost a pure white—with her belly scales being a zig-zag pattern.

"But… but Lady Helena's said that she would need to see the kid before it's true!" the young dragon stated, looking at Rex with unsurety.

"Then we'll have to send the two off with you, Miss Dainty." Astor said, looking at her in all seriousness. Both Spyro and Rex looked at Astor when he said that.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'the two'?" Rex asked, recognizing that Spyro might come along. Astor and the rest of the dragons looked at each other awkwardly, before a blue scaled, white horned dragon came up to the two quietly.

"You should know, since it's the only thing keeping you both alive." the blue dragon said calmly, the silence broken with a sledgehammer. "The bracelet and the collar… are magical tethers to the land of the living." the blue dragon stepped back when Rex screamed harshly.

"WHAT?" Rex yelled, before being forced to shut his mouth thanks to Spyro. The young dragon motioned for the larger blue dragon to continue.

"Both of you were nearly dead. Your magic had saved the both of you from dying, with the cost of you two needing to be close to one another." the blue dragon said, putting a claw onto Rex's shoulder. "Your magic has to work on repairing the damage caused. Otherwise…" the dragon mimed someone on the verge of a cartoony death, complete with a tongue sticking out. Both Rex and Spyro looked to each other at that, before looking away from one another with just a glare.

"Lindar, please take Dainty and these two to the Fae Queen as soon as you can." Astor said, with the blue dragon immediately doing as he was asked. Instantly, a human wearing Lindar's colours came up out of the crowd, the man's platinum-blonde hair glowing in the sunlight. Quickly—the blue-clothed man wearing riding gear led the two youngsters away to Stone Hill's Portal, following his dragon and Dainty.


	2. Dragon's Nest

The dragons managed to safely transport their riders to the land of Stone Hill—a land just as vibrant and spacious as the Artisans' Homeworld, but with artificial hills and a castle wedged within the walled hills. Rex had no choice but to fly with Dainty—as Spyro was big enough to carry himself, but could only glide with Rex on him. As such, the thief made fun of the purple dragon multiple times before Lindar spewed out some fire toward the thief. The rest of the trip was met with silence, as the dragons and two humans came up to the location where the Queen of Humans was living.

"I know that you probably don't know her, Rex." Dainty said once they came up toward the castle gates. "So I ask that you try to be civil about this. She's not her best since her son disappeared twelve years ago."

Rex didn't have the heart to snark at her, so he just nodded at that request. That, and Lindar and the blue-clothed human looked ready to pound him to the ground. The female dragon opened the gates, which caused magic to build up around them. Once it disappeared, it showcased a young woman within a beautiful dress, a white-golden crown and beautifully pale skin. Her eyes, like Dainty's, were a pinkish red. Her hair was a flowing platinum blonde, tied up into a bun behind her head.

"Dainty, why are you here? Did Lindar—" the woman stopped when she saw who was behind her dragon, and immediately went up to Rex in anticipation. "It can't be…" she said, running up toward Rex and hugging the daylights out of him. This action shocked the blue dragon and his human simultaneously.

"Wait, are you sure Helena?" Lindar and his human partner both asked, their eyes never leaving the Fae Queen and the thief.

"Of course! I may not be able to discern colours anymore," the Fae Queen said, stroking the paralyzed preteen's face gently. "But I know my own son's magical energy, even when heightened like this." she turned toward the human next to Lindar in confusion once her hand touched his right wrist. "Wait, why is this on him?" the two elder males looked away when that was stated, but couldn't get the chance to answer before Rex did.

"Apparently, I died by dragon claws. So did the dragon—he got stabbed through the heart. By my sword." Silence reigned through the hallway, none of them wanting to speak without freaking out. Then, Helena started to laugh—hard.

"Oh my—Chip!" Helena's words came out in snorted chuckling, having to hold on to the white-haired male for support. The dragons and Rex looked at her collapsing into a fit of laughter in confusion. "He's—he's too much!" the platinum-blonde male—Chip—sighed in frustration at Helena's behaviour.

"Sorry about this." He said as Helena continued her laughing fit. "She hasn't heard something _that_ ridiculous in a long time… even if the story's true." The Fae Queen stopped laughing instantly, looking at Chip in her own confusion.

"What…?"

Chip looked at Helena's quizzical look, sadness gracing his features. "I'm sorry my Queen. Rex will have to tell you what happened—"

"Hold on..." Helena asked Rex, "What do you remember of your full name?"

"Why would you ask that, Queen Fae?" Spyro asked while Rex pondered the question a bit.

"I don't think that anyone called you 'Rex' for your birth name, if they wanted to change it." the Queen stated simply. Everyone within the general vicinity took a moment to react to her simple-minded question.

"I only remember 'Alex', The king only called me 'Rex' until I called myself that." the thief said, not entirely sure with where this was going. The queen smiled at that.

"Your full name is 'Alexander Desmond Fae', if you wanted to know your full name." she happily said, moving away from the group-and a now-pouting Rex-towards Spyro. "I'm sorry to have forgotten you, little dragon. Can you tell me your name?"

"My name's Spyro, Queen Fae." the young dragon said, a blush could have been evident if Rex wasn't around (and NOT pouting for the attention, by-the-way).

"You don't have to call me Queen; you can call me Helena, sweetie." the Queen said, scratching all over the purple dragon's head as she continued. "I need to set up a few more plates for our guests; can you help find the plates Chip?"

* * *

As the group ate their food, an completely different pawn had come into play. Within a trash heap far beyond the Dragon Realms, a heap of trash sat on his throne, in the darkness.

"I WILL _FIND_ WHOMEVER MANAGED TO _MOCK ME_ IN **THEIR BLOODY** _ **NEWSPAPER**_!" The giant trash heap yelled at the newspaper in his hands. "I mean, it's much better than what they had yesterday, but…" He stopped reading the offensive article, destroying the overly large paper before he could read more mockery of himself. "Take this trash _away_ from here! I don't _want_ to look at it anymore!" the gigantic hulking figure finally came out of the shadows, to reveal a gnomish-green-scaled-orc creature in golden armour. The Gnorc-because we think it fits-took a gander at his reflection in the mirror that was suddenly beside him. He growled at his reflection, before thwacking the mirror with his club-shattering the misplaced mirror completely.

"Heh, that temper of yours isn't going to help you get your true destiny." a gravelly voice said, shocking the armoured Gnorc out of his self-loathing. "I can help you get rid of those lazy, ineffectual flying lizards-for a price." the gnorc turned to see not one, but _two_ figures hiding in shadows-one small enough to reach the gnorc's waist, and the other large enough to pound him into the dirt. The ugly olaf snorted at the two.

"What makes me think that I _want_ to work with you _and_ your dragon buddy, Gyre?" the gnorc asked, his eyes rolling at the two's attempt to hire him as their lackey. The dragon-shaped shadow seemed to look at the gnorc carefully, before snorting out a puff of smoke.

"I think you'll like _this_ idea, Gnasty Gnorc." the dragon shape said, snickering as Gnasty glared before looking at the other shadow.

"How so, you overgrown-"

"Now now, Gnasty. We don't wish for a fight that you can't win to start." the smaller shadow stepped out into the light, revealing a calm and rugged purple- haired man with dark-red robes. His eyes were an otherworldly yellow-seemingly able to pierce Gnasty's temper to a more manageable level. "What if I told you that we know a spell that could make conquering the Dragon Realms much easier?"

Gnasty's face took on a quizzical look as he contemplated what he wanted to say. "What does this spell do?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh, turning your enemies to pure crystal… unfortunately, it comes with a down side." the human said, before Gnasty could process the information. "In order for it to _work_ , you need a **reason** for it."

"I bet it could be anything flimsy, if you guys are giving it's secrets to _me_." Gnasty snarled, before being thrown back by a magical blast of energy.

"Of _course_ Gnasty. Why _else_ would we give it to you?" the dragon shadow snarled before being stopped by the human.

"We need a distraction, to put our actual plan into place. You, my good friend, are the _only_ Gnorc in the entire realms that's _willing_ enough to have a beef with those overgrown tote-bags." the human stated, looking at Gnasty with a harsh glare.

"...What happens if I allow myself to fall… Thief King?" Gnasty asked, falling once the magic around him was removed.

"Let's just say… You'll have the lands to yourself once again… And the dragon's will _never_ come back again." Gyre grinned at the end of his sentence, his eyes going darker in the light.

* * *

It was early morning when the news struck both Spyro and Rex at the exact same time. But before then, everything within the Artisans Homeworld was-of course, peaceful. The birds were singing, the sheep mindlessly grazing in the fields. A light breeze whooshed through Stone Hill, before being dissipated when purple magic shot out of Helena's castle.

" **WHAT DO YOU** _ **MEAN**_ **I HAVE TO** GO **TO THIS?** " Rex's obnoxious voice pierced the air just a few seconds after-causing a ruckus of birds, dragons, humans; _and_ sheep to leap ten feet out of their skins. When the events of yesterday crossed their minds, the dragons and humans of Stone Hill pitied the Fae Queen in that particular moment-the queen herself had _no_ idea on the temperament of her long-lost son that had grown without her presence, and the beings of Stone Hill hoped that she'd be able to tame the fires stewing within. However, the Artisans did not know that Helena herself had a temper that could rival a _volcano_ if used correctly.

"I only want what's best for you _and_ Spyro." Helena stated, her voice lowering an octave when she realized what Rex was goading her to do. "You haven't been _near_ the other humans with dragons yet, have you Alex?" she asked while smooshing Rex's cheeks in gently.

"Please don't call me that." Rex sighed, though with Helena's hands on his cheeks the words sounded slurred and unintelligible. When Rex gently pulled the Fae Queen's hands off of his face, he continued without interruption. "I don't think most of the dragonlets would even **like** me anyways."

"You.. _do_ remember that Rex spent most of his life as a thief, Helena?" Spyro asked, just as excited as Rex about the whole ordeal. "I'm not even _allowed_ into the Nest, either… Mainly because I didn't know about our _thief_ here." He shrugged at that, not caring about the looks the four older beings pulled on two bound to each-other.

"I don't think it's much of a problem for _either_ of you, though." Helena said, her cheerful attitude confusing the rest of the group. Dainty herself face-palmed at that statement. "Besides, it would be much more healthier if-"

"The two of them got together with the other humans and dragons. We _know_ this, Fae Queen." Chip suddenly cut in, anger on his face. "I'm more worried about the condition the _nestlings_ are going to be in." He looked toward Lindar, whom had the exact same thoughts written over his snout. "Spyro hasn't been _near_ anyone his age since he hatched, and Rex…" the two older males looked quickly at Rex at that point, who tried to look innocent through Chip's explanation.

"Well, who's planning on watching the children today?" Helena questioned, her temper rising as the rest of the group wouldn't agree with her idea.

"I think it was Ms. Kimberly this time, Fae Queen." Lindar said when the air turned sour. "Spotlight and Blackout promised to help her out for the next few months."

Helena nodded at that, before dragging Rex into the castle where they were planning to exit from. "You _can't_ go out with those robes! They'll think you're a thief!" the entire crowd snorted at her explanation, with the dragons snorting out flames of their bodies colours. Rex _would_ have started to laugh along with them had he not been dragged by Helena's own will.

"Helena, please!" Rex yelled out, his words ignored as he was dragged inside the castle.

"Nope, we need you in good riding clothes!" Helena said, with Rex sighing at that. Spyro, being chained to Rex's hand, had no choice to go with them in silence.


	3. The Nursery

The Dragon Nurseries was based in the castle within the Artisans Homeworld, an area where the Artisans used for events and meetings. The palace grounds was filled with dragon hatchlings and children of all families, a jumbled mess of fun that Ms. Kimberly was happily watching over. She was a large, stout pink dragon with a beautiful curved set of golden horns on her head-along with a nice set of glasses over her tiny snout. Ms. Kimberly huffed when she saw one of the children rushing back toward where she was-just at the French doors of the Nursery.

"Ms. Kimberly! Spotlight and Blackout came back!" the dragonling and human said-a blue-green chameleon dragon and a human with the same colours-as they came up toward the stoutly dragon excitedly. While two Dragon-years older than the rest of the children, Spotlight and Blackout were the most popular volunteers of the Dragon Nurseries. The both of them were Dream Weavers-meaning that they had the ability to create dreams and give them to the children while they were sleeping. It made getting the young ones to sleep through the entire night much easier, and Ms. Kimberly enjoyed having them around as help. Their riders themselves were also enjoyable for the children, so the Nursery Owner herself never bothered to say no to their offer of help. It made Jenna's-Ms. Kimberly's partner- life a bit easier now that she didn't need to run around without her dragon.

Not that humans and dragons _couldn't_ run around without their dragons-sometimes humans preferred to be without their dragons for a while and vice versa. But the magic within either human and dragon diminishes like never before, making both dragon and human completely sick to the stomach and unable to move about too much until both are reunited. As the entire society of the Dragon Realms was built around the relationship between human and dragon, the very idea of _either_ a human or a dragon on their own indicated that something was _wrong_ with either dragon or human. As such, not a lot of the children/dragonlets ever _bothered_ with being near Spyro-even if the only thing they thought about him was 'the fun dragon'.

Not that they could think of avoiding Spyro now. "Spyro's with them as well!" Ms. Kimberly stopped surging forward when she heard that bit. While most young children had no built-in prejudices, adults were-and Ms. Kimberly and Jenna weren't too different. The two adults knew about Spyro's current predicament, just like any other beings living within the Artisans. They were worried about how Spyro and his 'partner' would be an influence on the children. Wasting no time, the stout Nanny lifted herself off of the ground, landing quickly to pick her rider before flying off to intercept her two students quickly.

* * *

It was odd for Spyro to see the two Dream Weavers up close. Heck, he never even _heard_ of the two before he met the two of them right now! But there he was; staring at the four beings right in front of him, and Spyro never felt so _awed_ before.

The two dragons were monochrome coloured-which was odd, as The Dragon Realms dragons had at _least_ two colours on their bodies. The female was a brilliant metallic pearl colour that, when the light hit her scales just right, made her angelic and otherworldly in spite of her brightly glowing eyes. Her rider was similarly coloured-her yellow-brown eyes showcasing a mischievous but understanding look toward Spyro and Rex. The two's counterpart was as black as night, the light showcasing hints of turquoise green. Like his counterpart, the menacing gargoyle-like figure of the male dragon had the same voidless eyes of the female dragon. The gargoyle dragon's rider was _covered_ in menacing tattoos, giving Spyro the impression that the man had been dabbling in dark magic. Nevertheless, the male human's eyes were just as visible as the female human's-only the purpleish-pink eyes held a glare of disinterest toward the two.

"Seriously, Queen Fae?" the tattooed man asked Helena, who had been standing in between the gargoyle-dragon and Dainty herself. "Why do we _need_ to bring these two to the Nursery? We don't need-"

"They're still children, Helios." Helena cut off the dark-affiliated man, getting a huff out of him for that. "And in spite of what's happened, they _need_ interaction with other children. They're ten years of age, and they _don't_ have any friends _their age_!" she yelled at Helios, making both him and his dragon step back with a shudder.

"Look, Queen Fae." The black dragon tried to speak, before stopping and changing the conversation. "Do you think Mrs. Kimberly will mind?" He asked the other monochrome dragon beside him, with Helios saying "Blackout!" at him.

"It's alright Helios." the woman beside Helios stated, putting her hand onto the dark-magic man's shoulder. Helios' eyes lit up at the woman's response, then backed away when he realised how futile it was to fight her. When Helios did that, the bright woman pulled her hand from his shoulder and spoke to Helena with a noticeable frown. "We'll try to get Ms. Kimberly see your argument, but after what Spyro had nearly destroyed the towers-"

Rex started laughing at that. "Oh Great Stardust! I can't _believe_ that this idiot did something _wrong_!" He said in between breaths for air, making Spyro blush a bit in embarrassment.

"...But if it's from your own voice, I think we can let them back into the Nursery." the woman finished when Rex's laughter was dying down, his voice getting hoarse before delving into a fit. "If you want-we can bring you to where-"

"No, I think this will be enough Selene." Helena quickly kissed the back of Selene's hand, causing a powerful purple flame to appear over her hand. "This will let both Ms. Kimberly and Jenna know that the kids were my idea." Helena said happily, before leaving with Dainty to return back to her castle. The new group watched them go, before Helios coughed to bring the attention of the two youngsters.

"We need to get going you two." Helios stated, getting on Blackout as Selene did the same with her dragon. Blackout took a gander at Spyro's wingspan as Rex got onto the young dragon's back, snorting a bit before speaking.

"There's no way Spyro could _fly_ with Rex on his back. His wingspan can't support the two of them." Blackout stated, causing the purple dragon to glare at him.

"Dude, can you _not_?" Spyro said, puffing out a small amount of smoke. Selene and the angelic dragon looked at the two younglings, noticing that Rex looked uncomfortable with the looks.

"Blackout, would it be alright if you follow us in the air? I think we can walk with Spyro and Rex." the dragoness said, causing the group to look at the dragoness in shock.

"Spotlight…" Blackout stated, his tone crossing venomous territory. Before Helios had a chance to speak out, Selene raised her hand to silence the two.

"It's alright you two." Selene said, "Spyro and Rex need the company, anyways. I find it funny that the both of you are _jealous_ of these two kids, here." she teased as she got off of Spotlight, just as Spyro and Rex started walking toward the Artisan Castle. Both Blackout and Helios looked at the four's retreating backs, before angrily joining the small group of beings with a few simple strides.

* * *

"Of _course_ Helena would get you guys roped into this." Ms. Kimberly stated, sighing at the group. Both Spotlight and Selene looked rather sheepish as they finished explaining to their employer. Helios and Blackout had kept their faces stony, which was rather impressive considering that both Spyro and Rex looked ready to murder her.

"...It's the Queen's wish, Lulu." Jenna said calmly, her face just as stony as she walked back to the Nursery. "We need to introduce the two to the other dragonlings. We've already taken too long." she stated as they started walking. It didn't take them long, as Ms. Kimberly and Jenna didn't get a chance to leave for the Stone Hill portal when her four volunteers and the two children came into the scene. As soon as they got the chance to introduce Rex to the rest of the children (as all of them knew who Spyro himself was) before they went back to work taking care of them. Once introductions were over, Spyro and Rex moved into the courtyard where the rest of the dragonlings were. A merman/gillman hybrid was the first to come up to the two, light pink eyes sparkling in the sunlight as he and his dragon-dark blue with a light blue underbelly and shark-fin wings-instantly struck a conversation with Spyro and Rex.

"HIYAH!" the amphibious being yelled out, startling the two from their thoughts. "I'm Sparky! And this-" the kid pointed to his dragon partner-who had eye-rolled at the kid's antics. "Is my partner, Zap! I would like to be your friend!"

"Erm…" both Spyro and Rex started, but couldn't finish when Sparky started up again.

"Oh-oh, I know! You two should come and meet my other friends! Zap, do you want to come too?" Zap didn't even bother attempting a response as Sparky grabbed the newcomers by the chain, only to stop and realize what he just grabbed. "OHMYGOSHI'MSOSORRY!" he hyperactive child said once he recognized what he did. "I-I didn't mean-"

"Woah, Sparkster! It's alright!" Rex stated, quickly grabbing the frantic child's shoulders so that Sparky could calm down faster. "I'm not mad, and I don't think Spyro is as well. Right, Gnorc-Breath?" Spyro glared at Rex for the nickname, but changed it to a smile when he noticed the near-leaky eyes of Sparky.

"It's alright, buddy. I'm not harmed, am I?" Spyro's comment made Sparky relax, then grab the two of them again. Quickly and surely, Sparky weaved through the small crowd expertly, until he came upon 6 humans and dragons in a remote part of the castle grounds. The two that were closest to Sparky and Zap were dark purple in colouring, with silver horns/hair. The human had punk clothing, and both dragon and human had the exact same face piercings on their face, save for a few piercings on the human's ear as the dragon didn't have any. The next ones closest to the punk duo where the oddest of the bunch-the dragon had blue fur and feathers in place of scales, which showed on the human as a much darker skin tone. The dragon seemed to be half unicorn half dragon, with it having a single light blue horn coming out of it's forehead. They turned when Sparky announced his presence.

"Hey, Shock-stack, decided to bring Spyro and Rex with you?" the punk female human asked, her face emitting a smirk as she looked at how excited Sparky was.

"Hey, Jade, Cynder." Zap stated, as Sparky quickly hugged the two beings. "Is Flame and Casey coming in today? I haven't seen those two yet."

"Nope, haven't seen them." Cynder-the punk dragon-stated, her interest in Spyro increasing as Sparky tried showing him off to another set of partners-this time, a rock-like dino-dragon and his dark skinned partner, and the plant-like dragon and the floral loving guy. "Though, I've heard that they're planning on besting their current time in Sunny Flight. Casey also said something about 'the adults _finally_ getting rid of the rings' or something…"

"Well, I'm not surprised." Zap said as Sparky brought the two other partners-along with a half-bird half dragon duo and an mostly mechanical wearing duo-toward Rex when Spyro couldn't move further. "Wasn't Flame having trouble with the rings because of his wingspan?" Zap finished before a crash sounded behind him. He turned to find Sparky trying to calm down an green and brown scaled dragon, whose face was covered in an blue and yellow helmet with their back and wings covered in a similar metal. The dragon was about to attack Rex for something, along with a human that had similarly coloured overalls and helmet on them.

"D-Drobot! Wait!" the helmeted child exclaimed, pulling on Drobot's tail as he kept on trying to bite Rex continuously. "Rex hasn't hurt me at _all_! You should back down!"

"Negative! This human stole a dragon egg from the Machinists! He must be obliterated!" Drobot's lenses started to flare as he kept snapping at Rex. When the dragon stated that, Rex looked at him confused.

"W-what? I never _went_ to the Machinists' Homeworld!" Rex stated, which threw the others off guard at the response. "What? You didn't believe what your parents say about _me_?"

"Actually…" Cynder started, looking away from Rex and Spyro quickly.

"We kind of thought you'd be…" Jade stated, also looking away from Rex and Spyro.

"...Taller." the rocky dragon finished for the both of them, not bothering to look away when the punk duo looked at him.

"Bash, I wanted to say that." the dark-skinned human stated, turning over a leathery-almost rock-like-wing as he moved toward the Artisan duo. Unlike most of the others, he wore a gigantic rock-plated shell on his back, which once Drobot released the charge in his lenses caused the laser to be absorbed into the shield. "Try not to attack again before getting _proper_ information, Drobot." the human held out his hand for Rex to take, since he had landed on his butt when Drobot's lasers fired. "The name's Tiberius. The human who's trying to get Drobot to back off is named Gears-the both of them are usually kinder than this, but your history made them suspicious."

When Tiberius said that, everyone backed away from the trio, before Sparky instantly got in front of Tiberius.

"Woah, woah, woah! I haven't introduced you to the others yet!" Sparky stated, bringing Rex and Spyro towards the odd partners first. "These two are Whirlwind and Miko; Whirlwind's our best storm caster, and Miko's dances bring out the rain and sunshine!" both Whirlwind and Miko bowed calmly, Whirlwind's horn touched the chain of the two-She knitted her brows, but said nothing about it. Sparky then turned toward the dragon with feathers and a beak and his rider. "The beaky guy here is Sunburn, and the guy with fire for hair is named Lucky!"

"A pleasure to meet you Spyro, and Rex as well." Sunburn said, smiling as best as he could with the beak he has. He bowed similarly to Whirlwind and Miko, but his partner-Lucky-waved his hands in exasperation.

"I don't have fire for hair… My hair is from both my parents-my Mom was actually born in the year of the Rooster, so her partner's a Phoenix instead." Lucky huffed out, before turning to Rex. "Anyways, as Sparky said, I'm Lucky, and Sunburn and I _love_ to prank others with our teleportation abilities." Rex made a note of that, whistling impressively. Spyro looked at him cautiously, before Sparky moved on to the plant-like Dragon and his floral wearing partner.

"The spiky one's Camo: he _loves_ to make fruits and veggies explode! Kelso is his partner, and he uses Chi to move the plants around so the little beasts can eat them!" Sparky stated, causing Kelso to look harshly at him. He immediately looked at Rex and Spyro cheerfully, making them a bit unsure of the plant duo.

Camo's leaf-like wings twittered at that comment. "Hehe! If you want a party, I'll bring the best fruit PUNCH you'll **ever** see!" The thorny dragon danced a bit while Kelso moved toward the two.

"Don't mind Camo, he _loves_ a passion-fruit party." the other humans and dragons groaned at that pun, leaving the Artisan duo to blink owlishly at him. "N-nevermind. We both love to make fruit and veggie related puns, so if you want to groan at puns, we're the perfect apples to do that!" Spyro huffed at the second attempt, but Rex looked at him like he grew a second head. "Well, I guess you win some, you lose some…" Kelso sighed at the two's reactions, before Sparky pulled both Spyro and Rex away from them-and to some other dragons that weren't with the group at that particular moment.

"Over that way, there's Ember and Lilly," Sparky pointed to the pink dragon and her rider. "Then there's the chameleon-like Aurora and Emerald. She likes to show her love to her partner." he then pointed to the chameleon like dragon and her rider near Spotlight and Blackout, chatting with the both of them. Before Spyro and Rex had the chance to leave Sparky and Zap before the former could drag them around the Nursery, he grabbed the two and started introducing them. "And then there's…" Sparky continued, looking at Rex and Spyro look to each other in agony. It was going to be a _long_ day for the both of them…


	4. Guardian Bug's Wall

Spyro the Dragon Draconic Team Chapter 4

Guardian Bug's Wall

Four days have passed since Rex and Spyro had met and became friends with the rest of the young dragons. While the two of them had gone around with Sparky on the first day of the Nursery, they couldn't keep up the next day—leaving them with the rest of the group to rest up. Rex spent time making plans with Lucky and Kelso about the prank he had an idea of for Ms. Kimberly. The other dragons listened with interest, with Spyro having sat himself a bit further from them. Both Rex and Spyro started sleeping within a guest room in Helena's castle—as Helena's planned room for her child was closed, and she didn't have enough time to remove all the baby stuff by the time he and Spyro came back.

The two weren't on comfortable terms—since the both of them were too used to fighting one another to really 'talk' to each other. The other dragons were hesitant with both Rex and Spyro, but Sparky's insistence at them making friends was the only reason as to why they weren't kicked out of the Nursery. Even though they haven't seen much of the nannies, every dragonling and child just _knew_ that Ms. Kimberly and Jenna were avoiding the two. Nevertheless, in spite of the rumors surrounding Rex and the fears of associated with Spyro, the few that Sparky introduced plus Ember, Lily, Aurora, and Emerald quickly became friends to the formerly lost child and dragonling... For now, if what Sparky was going to plan _work_.

Either way, Spyro and Rex had been steadily going on their days, the two of them tense for the ball to drop.

"Yo, Spyro! Earth to Spyro!" Bash roared, startling Spyro from his daydream. "We've been trying to figure out what the noise around Rex was, and we need your help to get rid of it." Spyro looked at the rugged Peacekeeper with a quizzical look on his face, before getting up and stretching his forelegs tiredly.

"I would have _known_ if Rex was being bothered, Bash..." the dragon gestured to the chain that lead toward the human in question, along with the collar that connected the chain to Spyro. "I think you guys are a little _too_ cozy with that spoiled brat…" Over the past four days, the other dragons and humans had taken a shining to Rex, to the point where they started being overprotective of the two of them—much to Spyro's ire. It was getting hard for Spyro to converse with the other adult dragons nowadays, with Rex chained to him and the other children that befriended the two outcasts started following them like ducklings to their mother.

"Well, Rex needs your help regardless…" Bash stated, before following Spyro toward where Rex's position was. When the two dragons got to where Rex was, Tiberius and the other children were a few feet away from the tree Rex was resting at, glowing lights by the thousands blocked their path to the former thief. Jade and Cynder were the two closest to Spyro, so they were the first to answer Spyro's question—before he could say it, at any least.

"We just came by to find a lot of these guys surrounding Rex." Jade stated, pointing toward the lights. "They seem agitated with Rex but we can't get close with these guys hanging around us." Spyro looked to the lights cautiously, having to squint a bit to see what the lights were.

" _Are_ they… Guardian Bugs?" The purple dragon said, looking toward Drobot in confusion. While the two got along since Rex nearly being cooked, the two didn't interact enough because of said human barbecuing. Add in Gears' quiet and rather shy nature, it was hard for the two of them to communicate often.

"From what my sensors are getting, they're definitely Guardian Bugs." the engineering dragon stated, making the others look to him in confusion. Gears had realized what Drobot was saying, and capitalized on that.

"Not all the Guardian Bugs are dragonflies..." Gears stated, holding his hand out to one of the glowing lights. "Many of them _can_ look like dragonflies, but sometimes they can come in as beetles or cockroaches. They're also longer-lived than the average bug, because they use our magic to sustain their Life-Force." he looked at the orb carefully, noting how its glow seemed more like a jewel refracting than a metal sheen, and let it hover back toward the wall.

"Okay, so why _do_ they need our magic? Can't they just make their own, like they're doing right now?" Sparky asked, trying to move them away as he saw Spyro leave _around_ the bug wall. When Sparky tried that before, the wall _moved_ with him.

"Many of the Guardian Bugs don't actually **live** inside these bubbles of light. Here little captain," Gears took another ball of light from the wall gently, this time with the ball light shimmering as if it's being reflected off of the surface of water. "Notice how there's nothing inside these balls of light? A Guardian Bug cannot actually exist until a shot of our magic is fed to them." Gears looked to the wall again, just as Tiberius looked over the wall in disdain.

"There's probably one of _our_ Guardian Bugs in that wall. It's why we can't get near Rex." the burly boy said plainly, inducing a surprised look from Sparky.

"Huh?"

"Guardian Bugs aren't the _only_ things that benefit from their relationship with us, Shock-stack." Jade ruffled the non-finned area of Sparky's head as she started. " **We** get the benefit of protection from them-they each have a different colour pattern to tell us how healthy they are, but they usually follow the '4 strikes you're out' routine." Sparky removed Jade's hand from his head as she said this.

"If they're so good for us, then why _don't_ we have them?" Sparky asked, which made the group look to each other in confusion. Nobody **EVER** explained that bit of information to them, so they didn't realize how _dangerous_ the Guardian Bug could be for Spyro and Rex.

Spyro, having known this conversation from the elder dragons, decided to move to where Rex was instead of listening. He carefully trotted toward where the blonde-haired thief was, finding him with a yellow light all around his face. Rex was trying to get the glowy light away from his eyes, using his purple magic to do so.

"Okay, okay! Flashy Bang-McBang, stop fluttering all over and _tell me_ what's **wrong**!" Rex yelled at the light as it landed on his long nose. Before Spyro could warn the thief, Rex shot a small purple flame of fire toward the light-breaking the shielding around it to reveal a tiny, yellow dragonfly with red eyes and purple-tinted wings. Breathing in the fading remnants of the shielding, the human and dragon chained to each other looked at the being in surprise and wonder.

"That's… beautiful…" Spyro helpfully said, looking at the tiny bug in awe as it landed on his nose.

"I can't believe that I felt _angry_ at this splendid little bug before…" Rex lifted his hand toward the dragonfly, hoping that it would climb onto him so that he could apologise to it. The little thing was eager to exchange beings as a sudden light breeze came over the two, indicating the arrival of an elder dragon and rider.

"Is everyone here alright- Spyro?" Ms. Kimberly asked, looking at the newest duo to arrive in the Nursery as Jenna came off of her back. Neither child seemed to even be aware of their surroundings, as Jenna marched up toward the two and found them staring at the dragonfly still. The human Nursery co-owner huffed at the trouble the two got into, knowing full well that Queen Helena wouldn't keep them away after _this_ incident.

"Oi, dragonfly." she started, the dragonfly suddenly becoming tense at her abrupt tone. "These two dolts don't _need_ you right now. Wait until they-hey!" the dragonfly suddenly took off toward the portal to Town Square, using it's magic to lead Spyro and Rex away from her. Quickly running back to Kimberly, Jenna quickly climbed up to her dragon's back. "We need to move, _now_." Jenna said, looking at her old partner squarely with her amber eyes.

"What's going on? Why are Rex and Spyro following the Guardian Bug?" Lulu asked her partner gently, knowing full well that her partner needed to get rid of her frustration quickly before they caught up with the trio.

"They breathed in the shielding remnants from their little bug-it now has the two as it's puppets." Jenna said as Ms. Kimberly took off in the direction of the duo, noticing how difficult Spyro found the whirlwinds due to his wingspan inside the tower.

"Oh dear! That's not a good thing to be under, even if it's their own Guardian Bug…" Kimberly stated as the trio went into the Town Square Portal. Quickly, Jenna and Kimberly followed the two, the portal increasing in size to accommodate for the Beast Maker's large frame. As soon as they flew through the portal (as many of the Dragons realized it was easier that both their riders and themselves would be propelled forward to the location regardless of how big their wingspan-as the dragons had found out when the portals were close to the ground), both Spyro and Rex were already off towards the first fountain in the Square.

"Oh, no you _don't_!" Jenna yelled, getting Mrs. Kimberly into a run after the trio ahead. However, as soon as she started, the Beast Maker dragon found that the road seemed… _icy-er_ somehow… Lulu couldn't keep her grip on the suddenly icy pavement, causing her to fall down onto her forearms for purchase. Jenna, knowing that Lulu would be having trouble due to her lack of knowledge of ice, quickly pulled out a small orb of light-revealing itself as a whiteish-gold swamp cicada with amber eyes and pink translucent wings. "Missy! You have to follow those two! Their Guardian Bug has them under their control!" Jenna explained to the bug, whom dashed off toward where the little dragonfly was with the two beings.

"Skreeee! Skreee, Skreee Skree!" Missy 'said' through her wings once she caught up with Spyro and Rex, stopping in front of the yellow dragonfly before it could move onward. The dragonfly looked at Missy and moved under her, forcing Missy to fall onto the little dragonfly's back.

"Bzzz! Bzz Bzz BZZZZZZZZZ!" the dragonfly 'yelled', trying to get his partners to remove the cicada off of it, but the movement of the cicada made the two keep missing the other Guardian Bug. This gave Jenna enough time to help out her dragon off the ice, gently skating her own self away to give the Beast Maker room.

"Come on, Lulu! Missy can't hold on to that mischievous dragonfly for long!" Jenna stated, hoping it would give incentive for her awkward-skating friend. "We can't lose those two numbskulls, else Helena may have our heads for this…" she muttered to herself, having noticed the new jovial mood her Queen had gotten once her son came back. Heck, _everyone_ had noticed the formerly closed off Queen become friendly the last few days-even managing to _leave_ the castle with Dainty! It was truly a joyous moment, seeing the once-depressed Queen leave her home now that her son-in **spite** of how many people believe that Rex _**wasn't**_ her son- was with her again, the dragons almost drank themselves into a _coma_ for the Queen's return! Despite all of Jenna and Ms. Kimberly's dislike on the thief and his not-partner, allowing the two to get killed by their Guardian Bug was the _last_ thing they wanted, both for the Queen's sanity _and_ their own love of children.

"There! We should-" Lulu stated as she got off the ice, only to notice that Missy was no longer screeching. "No! Little dragonfly, don't leave!" The Beast Maker lumbered forward, catching Spyro's tail just as he was about to follow the dragonfly. The little dragonfly and Rex turned around to see what happened to Spyro just as Jenna leaped to grab the young thief, though Lulu had noticed the moment.

"Argh! Get _off_ me!" Rex growled, struggling with Jenna's stronger grip and smoking from the mouth. As it was, the missing prince had no power to free himself from the elder woman's arms, and struggled to the best of his ability as his Guardian Bug looked over him. "Sparx, can you get her off of me?" he asked his friend in vain.

"Bzzzz…" the dragonfly-Sparx-sounded, deflating a bit before starting to fully fall out of the air. Surprised by this, both Ms. Kimberly and Jenna let go of Spyro and Rex immediately, allowing the human to instantly sweep up and catch the Guardian Bug before it became gooey dragonfly bits.

"Sparx!" Spyro screeched to a halt beside Rex, looking at the little dragonfly with an expression neither Jenna and Ms. Kimberly can be certain of. "...What happened to him?" He asked the two, looking up to see that they moved toward them a bit more.

"Probably ran out of the initial wake-up magic you gave him." Jenna said, looking Sparx over gently. "Seems you guys have a really, _really_ low amount of magic in your system right now-in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you guys are _barely_ at the level your peers are at right now." the two boys looked at the nursery manager in confusion.

"Erm, well-you see dears…" Ms. Kimberly stated as the trio below looked toward the dragon. "Sparx _feeds_ off of the magic reserves that you two have." She twiddled her thumbs as she thought the best way to answer this, Missy flying through her horns. "And most of your magic is being used to keep you alive-so to speak, so…" She stopped right there, looking at the thief and the purple dragon sadly.

"So…?" Both Spyro and Rex said, not liking where the conversation was going.

"It means you guys needed to _wait_ a bit before releasing your Guardian Bug." Spyro confusedly looked at Jenna as she said that, not realizing what the big deal was. Rex, on the other hand, was trembling at the idea that the Nursery Owners presented. In fact, _both_ red-eyed beings seemed a little lopsided throughout the conversation.

"Wait-you mean that-" Spyro didn't get the chance to finish the sentence, having suddenly collapsed along with Rex. Jenna, having realized what happened, managed to catch Rex from hitting the ground just as Spyro smacked the pavement belly first.

"Lulu! Get help!" Jenna said as her partner took off, "Make sure that someone with a medical license comes by as well! We don't _need_ those addicted-smoke blowers for this!" Gently pushing Rex to be on his back, the golden blonde woman looked around for any other humans and dragons about. "Please, hold on…" Jenna said softly, wondering how she was going to get help when the dragons weren't in Town Square today.


End file.
